Python Version Mismatches That Kill an SDK Quickstart

A developer clones the sample, runs the documented command, and watches the package manager refuse the interpreter. Nothing reached your API. Your status page stays green. They close the tab and try the next vendor.

State the range in the first screen of the README and again in the CLI. 'Python >=3.11 and <3.13' is a contract. 'Python 3' is how a laptop on 3.13 wastes an afternoon.

Print sys.version and the path of the binary next to the error code. A message that only says 'incompatible Python' forces them to guess which of three installs you saw.

If you can select a known-good interpreter, say the command. If you cannot, say that plainly. A hint that points at a binary they do not have is worse than no hint.

The probe needs the required range, the version you found, and the command. It does not need their home directory or a dump of every installed package.

Ask what they were trying to do only if a person is at the keyboard. A CI job should record the probe and exit non-zero without a prompt.

Ten evaluators on the same too-new Python are a docs bug. Widen the range, pin the quickstart to a version you test, or print a one-line install for that version.

Draft the GitHub issue from that cluster. A person still sends it. The next developer should hit the updated range, not the same wall.